As I made my way up to Fraserburgh, I didn't know quite what to expect. The wind forecast showed some promise for Sunday, and there was the possibility of some big kite action on Saturday - I'd packed all the light wind toys just in case. After a six hour drive through picturesque Northumberland and the Scottish counties, I finally arrived outside Synergy Kitesports and was greeted by the familiar face of JP and we spent half an hour catching up. After chewing the fat we could see that the swell was building slightly after the tide turned, and I was eager to score some waves after the long drive. After a good hour and a half on the water, it was time to book in to the neighboring campsite, have a bite to eat and catch up some more with the others and have some banter over a few beers.

The obstacles

Saturday dawned with a light wind forecast, which was set to increase by early evening, and we kept ourselves entertained by getting registered, moving the obstacles down to the beach, going over the rules and generally hoping for the wind to pick up. By mid-afternoon the onshore wind was sufficiently strong to start running heats and a straight port tack course was setup parallel to the shore which was being constantly jostled by the breaking waves. After a few test runs, the heat sheets were drawn up and the competition was well and truly on!

We all watched on with great interest as the first heat started, and there was mixed success in getting over the obstacles - some of which were cleared with ease, some cleared but with a loss of control of the kite, and others hilariously face-planted into! The breaking waves were making the course extra tricky, and a certain amount of timing was required to ensure you didn't come up a cropper! Next up it was my turn, and found it tricky to master the start procedure; getting over the line as soon after the horn blows. I still managed a pretty good start and powered toward the finish without significant mishap. It was good to sit back again and watch a few heats as the others did battle; The double height 'wall' obstacle was causing significant issue for some riders, who struggled to pop and land well without the assistance of board fins. Before long it was the Semi's and I was drawn up against JP Butterworth, who was to have an absolute worldie of a start - powering through the line just as the horn went. I powered frantically through the course to try and catch him, but the end was nearing fast and the opportunity was unlikely. However just as JP cleared the last obstacle, 10m ahead of me, he clipped it as he went over which dumped him into the water. I took the opportunity to power past and take the win and plenty of banter was exchanged when we met up again on the beach afterwards!

Day 1 Results

It was good to sit back again and watch a few heats as the others did battle; The double height 'wall' obstacle was causing significant issue for some riders, who struggled to pop and land well without the assistance of board fins. Before long it was the Semi's and I was drawn up against JP Butterworth, who was to have an absolute worldie of a start - powering through the line just as the horn went. I powered frantically through the course to try and catch him, but the end was nearing fast and the opportunity was unlikely. However just as JP cleared the last obstacle, 10m ahead of me, he clipped it as he went over which dumped him into the water. I took the opportunity to power past and take the win and plenty of banter was exchanged when we met up again on the beach afterwards! After a couple more heats the finals were upon us, and Jake Higgins and Damian Carre joined me in the final showdown of the day. I made sure I had a good start this time, sitting close to the line and powering away as soon as the horn blew - this put me straight into the lead and just a matter from there of a fast, clean run to the finish line. After helping clear up the equipment, the evenings events took us to Cheers bar in Fraserburgh town, and we sunk a few more beers whilst discussing the events of the day, whilst looking forward to the stronger conditions forecast for Sunday.

JP, Maggie and Mark

As we attended the morning briefings the wind cross-offshore wind was clearly building, and there was a significant swell present also. The organizers set out a starboard tack away from the beach, around a buoy, returning back again further downwind. The had notably opted to put the 'Wall' obstacle on the starboard tack this time, which was most likely to be the weaker side for most people, which was further complicated by the waves jacking it up as they rolled past. The first few heats were simply carnage - the gusty offshore winds, coupled with the breaking waves and obstacles on peoples weaker side made for some very amusing viewing. I opted for a 14m Lithium which would be well overpowered for most uses, but was perfect for the gusty conditions and powering out through the break and over the obstacles. I managed to lead from the front in most rounds, but was caught napping by Ross Knox in one round who powered away from the start, only to lose speed when the landing from an obstacle didn't go quite as he'd hoped. He could be heard screaming 'Nooooo' as I pulled ahead and went on to secure victory.

As round 2 concluded, I'd secured an unassailable lead, but there remained enough time to run a third round with the wall back again on port tack. JP and Ross managed to improve their previous standing and make it to second and third place respectively in the overall standings.

After packing down, the award ceremony was upon us, and thanks were sent out to the KBC Tour organisers, Synergy Kitesports and Scottish Windfest for their tireless work on event planning and organisation. As the results were read out and we took our places on the podium, we were all gobsmacked by the prizes which we gladly received. A great end to an exceptional weekend, and especially nice to be involved in an exciting new kitesurfing format which is open to all kitesurfers intermediate and beyond.

It's review season again, and S2AS are providing me with kites thick and fast! This week its the much awaited Hadlow ID - a great all-round freestyle machine with bucket loads of performance.I wasn't blessed with great 10m weather, but its great bottom end was enough to complete the majority of the review. I hope to finish it off in stronger conditions if I get the chance.

Whilst at the BKSA in Blackpool I managed to score a go on an 8m Flexifoil Hadlow Id.

Unfortunately it was using a bar from a different manufacturer, and when I got the kite in the air, it was clear that the back lines weren't of equal length, but I decided to just make do with it and take it out while the conditions were good.

The first thing you notice about the Id is the bar pressure - its surprisingly heavy, perhaps on par with the Hadlow Pro. The Id requires a bit of force to get it to turn which irons out accidental steering, and can be whipped around in a tight arc when you are more forceful with the bar - it's clearly a kite which freestylers are gonna love!

The Id seemed very stable in the sky, and pivots on the bridle as the gusts come through, giving the kite a great wind range. It is a real pleasure to take out on the water and razz up and down with, but it's when you send this kite and pop that it really shines. It's capable of huge effortless boosts and has some very nice float on the way down too.

I didn't get any chance to test relaunch or unhooked prowess (I was concerned about the unequal length steering lines, and didn't want to risk it), but my 10 minutes on the water with it really leaves me wanting more... Hopefully I'll get a full review arranged in the forthcoming weeks. ... Watch this space :) ...

The journey down to North Wales on Friday was a good one, helped along by some thumping tunes provided by Hospital Records. I Pulled in at Kimnel bay just before 3, and after saying hello to everyone it seemed that the conditions were good enough to give the Slingshot Turbine a trip out on the water. The wind was cross-offshore and pretty gusty, but it picked up slowly, allowing me to get some serious airtime, and also to try some unhooked moves with it (A full review will follow when I've spent a bit more time with it).After a couple of hours on the water, I retired before the rain came through and enjoyed the BBQ and sank a few beers with the other competitors.The forecast for Saturday was decent yet cross-offshore and gusty, and the plan was to try and get all the competitions completed that day. They opted to run the juniors and girls first, before getting onto us heavyweights, leaving plenty of time to get out on the water and get a feel for the conditions.After a couple of hours of competition it came around to our first heat; I was up against Steve Mews, Marcus Hawkins and Kevin Matthey. All went well initially landed a high grabbed frontroll followed by a railey to blind in the tricky conditions; however I somehow managed to activate my safety release after passing the bar - sending the kite tumbling out of the air. Fortunately, it came to ground pretty quickly, and I managed to grab the bar, reconnect the chicken loop, and got some assistance to get the kite back into the air. The lines were all twisted up but the kite was flying, and I had no time to fix it, so headed straight back out onto the water, with sheer determination to make up for my mistake. After getting back upwind I strung a load of moves together in a frantic attempt to get some points; I didn't even hear the buzzer signalling the end of the heat - I was probably still out trying to get in as many moves as possible.I was really pleased to see that despite the difficulties, I'd managed to score a win and a place in the final - the others must have clearly been struggling with the far from perfect conditions (albeit with their kite attached!).This left me with plenty of time to watch the other heats and prepare for the final against Pete Whiteley, Kevin Matthey and Steve Mews. The final started off well, landed an early railey to blind after a previous attempt which found me flying across the water in a nasty gust. I opted to play it safe for the rest of the heat to rack up as many points as possible in the difficult conditions. When the buzzer blew to signal the end I had a good feeling that I'd done enough to secure the win, and all that was left was to wait for the evening event to get the results. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the pro's showing us all how it's done - they were clearly struggling too but Ali Barrett was pulling off some amazing high handlepasses and powered low moves, but perhaps not as consistently as the North boys, who were ripping also.We all headed down to the May Quay public house for a few ales and to talk about the days events. After food had been served, Mark Ward announced the Seniors' results in reverse order - Steve Mews 4th, Kev Matthey 3rd, myself in second and the old master Pete Whiteley taking top spot again! After loads of banter with the guys, I found out later that the judges decision was a split one, and had just not done quite enough to seal the win - my conservative approach had probably cost me.Sunday was a very relaxed affair, and we awoke to bright sunshine, cal and warm temperatures. We all enjoyed the sun and generally passed the time on Dave's inflatable SUP's and helping Flindal with his kite-tow attempts in the light winds. At 1pm they decided to run the prizegiving and Whiteley did his best to shower myself & Kev with bubbly, but it was the King of Watersports award that came as the biggest surprise, as they awarded it to me for my never-say-die lightwind attitude - I was over the moon, as it was totally out of the blue. I was awarded a brand new Sector9 longboard which will keep me busy whenevr the winds not blowing - epic!

Rare are the days that we have 9m weather up here at the moment, so when the wind was pumping a few days ago, I dashed down the beach to put the 2011 Takoon Reflex through its paces. I'd had a go on an early prototype several months ago, and was eager to see how the production model turned out...